For a while now, I have come across an article about BanG Dream. It’s about a statement that Kidani Takaaki made. He said that “the idol boom that has continued until now is already finished this year.”

In other words, he believes that idols will make way for the girl-band boom. However, I am very skeptical of that for many reasons that I will share.[Read more…]

In the past, I have touched upon thoughts about piracy and how they are taking a wrong approach. Although legal alternatives have made some strides, it has shortcomings besides other issues like region locking and that the subs have quality issues in the viewer’s eyes.

With that in mind, while fans tend to look down other fans because of their tastes of Anime, there is another issue that is also apparent, people chastising people because they prefer to download anime opposed to streaming it legally or buying Blu-rays. While I will share why this practice is counterproductive, there are various reasons why people choose to continue to download instead of watching it on a legal streaming site.[Read more…]

In the past, I tend not to talk about these issues.. Sadly, it has gotten to the point that the mainstream media is using them as a scapegoat for all these issues including sites like Anime News Network inserting politics to some of their reviews, thus the discussion becomes polarized. In some cases, this eventually lead to censorship and lack of localization while people shaming others who enjoy these types of media.[Read more…]

It’s surprising how fast time flies since Pokémon officially turns 20 years old later this month with the first generation games (Red and Green) releasing back in February 27th, 1996 in Japan. While I have reflected on the franchise (mostly on the games) in the past, it’s time to share my overall thoughts on how Pokémon made me become an anime fan that I am today.[Read more…]

For a while now, I have bought physical copies of games, music CDs and even anime DVDs/Blu-rays since I prefer owning an actual copy. Nowadays, the trend has shifted towards digital distribution even though Japan still prefer physical formats over digital. Why is this the case and what effects does it have on the industry as a whole.[Read more…]

As you recall, I have shared my thoughts on scoring in the past. Sure, everyone has their own way of scoring things when it come to writing reviews. However, as time goes on and our opinion changes through experiences, you might look back at the list and wonder to yourself, why you gave a show a certain score. Moreover, scores usually do not tell whole story since it is just an arbitrary number. This makes me wonder why bother with them?[Read more…]

Remember the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act from 2011? These acts aimed to stop piracy, but at the same time introduced unintended consequences since the legislation was so broad that companies and government can use it to request internet service providers to censor sites. If thy were to pass, companies can use it to censor your content and limit free speech. Thankfully, people protested and these two legislations died. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) faced the same fate since it was SOPA-like.

Now, we have a new bogeyman that will threaten free speech, reign in censorship and limit free speech. This will not only destroy anime blogging, but the anime fandom as we know it. That is the TPP, which is commonly referred to as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secret trade deal that involves the United States and other Asian countries in the pacific, including Australia, Canada, Japan and others.

This recently leaked treaty has a lot of nasty copyright restrictions that will undermine fair use and make copyright violations a criminal offense. This mean that you might get a hefty fine or even get thrown into jail. With that, I’m going to share some background information about the treaty and then go into certain provisions that will possibly impact the anime fandom as a whole.[Read more…]

I have been wondering for a while why people tend to enjoy shows that are either have a ridiculous premise or ones that it can be considered as “so bad it’s good.” While I have shared my thoughts about bad anime, I wonder what qualities make a show so bad it’s good.[Read more…]

For a while now, I have covered several aspects of the fandom and of course there are always going to be good and bad fans. However, after hearing news about fans threatening others through violence over other fans opinions and such, it makes you wonder if there are some really bad apples and messed up people in the fandom that are worse than the anime fandumb since their behavior hurt the overall reputation of ordinary people like you and me who happens to enjoy anime or even video games.[Read more…]

Since the late 1990s, Anime has grown tremendously popular mostly due to globalization and the Internet becoming widespread. When I read Moonlitasteria’s take on the topic on whether or not Anime as a whole have become mainstream in the West, I wanted to share my own thoughts on it.[Read more…]